Serving life for killing three in Easton in 2007, New Jersey man wishes he'd taken a jury trial

Serving life in prison for murdering three people in Easton, a New Jersey convict now wishes he'd taken his chances with a jury.

To avoid a possible death sentence in 2011, Demar Edwards agreed to be tried instead by a Northampton County judge, who found him and a co-defendant guilty of first-degree murder in what is still the city's bloodiest slaying ever.

But in a post-conviction appeal, Edwards is seeking a new trial that would expose him again to the death penalty, saying he got bad legal advice when he opted to waive his right to a jury trial in exchange for prosecutors' dropping capital-murder charges.

Having been appointed a new attorney, Tyree Blair, Edwards was in court twice this month over his claims, which President Judge Stephen Baratta repeatedly expressed skepticism over.

By waiving a jury trial, Edwards and Olayiwola Hollist successfully sought to "shield themselves" from death row in the 2007 killings, Baratta said. He called Edwards "a poster child" for capital punishment, considering he traveled from Newark, N.J., to Easton to commit the murders in a community to which he had no ties.

"You're making me laugh, Mr. Blair," Baratta said at the first hearing, held April 9. "I didn't want a bench trial. I wanted this to be heard by the jury."

On Nov. 29, 2007, Edwards was one of four men who drove to Easton's West Ward for a "gangland killing" in which three people were shot execution-style in an apartment while dressed for bed, prosecutors said.

The victims were Alphe Rene, 20; Aleah Hamlin, 19; and Chanel Armour, 23. Authorities said the murders were retaliation between Bloods gang factions for slayings in the Garden State in the days before. The two women had nothing to do with the dispute, but were shot so as to leave no witnesses, according to prosecutors.

By opting for a bench trial, Hollist and Edwards avoided a risk taken by another co-defendant, Ali E. Davis of Freemansburg. Before a jury in 2010, Davis was found guilty of first-degree murder and could have received the death penalty, but also ended up with life in prison when the panel deadlocked at sentencing.

On Thursday, Edwards was back before Baratta, where the now-36-year-old inmate asked the judge to recuse himself from the case, charging he is biased. Baratta denied the request, leaving Edwards to testify to several claims in which he alleges his trial attorney, Matthew Potts, was ineffective.

Among them: Edwards says Potts failed to question whether Pennsylvania's criminal code was lawfully enacted — a longtime jailhouse appellate issue that has repeatedly been struck down by the courts as frivolous.

Edwards also claimed that Potts failed to call two witnesses in his defense from inside Northampton County Prison. One of them was Eugenio J. Torres, who is serving a life sentence for torturing to death a 3-year-old boy in Wilson in 2008. The other was Jacob Christine, who was convicted of slashing a fellow inmate across the throat with a razor in 2009.

In cross-examining Edwards, First Deputy District Attorney Terence Houck raised both men's backgrounds to suggest there may have been a reason Potts didn't want them to take the stand.

"Are you familiar with the past of these two stellar citizens who were going to testify for you?" Houck sarcastically asked Edwards, who said he was aware of Torres' charges.

At Edwards' and Hollist's trial, they were identified by a co-defendant, Lewis A. Gray, who cooperated with prosecutors after taking a plea deal to conspiracy charges and receiving 13 to 26 years in prison.

Gray said he climbed the stairs of a North 13th Street home with the pair until they reached the third floor, where Hollist and Edwards fired on the three victims without speaking.

Hollist, 31, and Davis, 27, are both also pursuing appeals.

Testimony in Edwards' legal challenges is expected to take one more day. Once it concludes, the two sides will submit briefs and Baratta will rule.